1877.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



41 



and buzzards, .Tiiy more tliaii they do after 

 wild cats, wolverines ami skunks, but there 

 niiglit be those who would prefer them to 

 more delicately constituted animals. Nor 

 could the use of insects as food be claimed as 

 a modern discovery, for, without j^oiu^j biek 

 to the iii'ehistorie ages of the human family, 

 and s|>eculatinK upon their Kiislrouoniic hab- 

 its, we have numberless instances rec'orded 

 npon the paijes of ancient, mediievaland mod- 

 ern history that they were used as Iniman 

 food. The Greek ai'ul K'lman epicures of the 

 2d century. —and both <'arlier and later than 

 that period— were in the habit of eating the 

 larvce of several coleopterous insect:;, and 

 highly relished tlieui, according to iElian, 

 Pliny and others; which were probably those 

 of palm-weevils, and certain large species of 

 Lotiyi-corniaus. Pliny's coasus probably was a 

 Prionus. AVliat we know of cossiis now, is, 

 that it is very offensive, and would liardly be 

 used as food"; but the two edible species 

 named, as well as the white grubs of certain 

 Laniellicornian insects, were eaten, and re- 

 garded as great luxuries by the people ;)f Suri- 

 nam, South America, and the West Indies, 

 and are very probably eaten liy those people to- 

 day. The larvie of a large species of Ceram- 

 liiClD^E {Prionus duiiilcnnns) was in great re- 

 quest at the principal tables in J unaica, and 

 a similar one in Mauritius, and also allied 

 species in various parts of Africa. The whites 

 as well as the negroes, in the latter country, 

 are said to be greedily fond of the laritr. of 

 Cock-chafers and Rhinoceros Beetles (Oi-yctcs 

 naskomls). Among the OitTHOi'TEHA, lo- 

 custs have been considered almost a staple 

 food ainone various nations. St. John the 

 Ba))tist made a repast of "locusts and wild 

 honey" in the wilderness, and among the 

 Ethiopian tribes, and the Parthians, as well 

 as the Arabians, locusts were a common arti- 

 cle of food, and from this circiunstance some 

 of these trilies were called Acrilnphagi (locust 

 eaters) from Acridum, a genus to which some 

 of the largest species belong. Tlie larijest 

 species of locust in our laiitude is tlie Acrid- 

 ivm Americaiuini, and is common in Lancaster 

 county. 



1 might (ill many pages in quoting the in- 

 stances throughout the world where insects 

 have been resorted to as an article of human 

 food, and this not from necessity alone, but 

 from choice. Not only the orders Col&ipUiu 

 and Orthapter", hut also the Lipidoptera, the 

 Honwptera, the Hijmcnoptcra, the Diptern and 

 the ^;3t' rn, have furnislied subjects for tlie 

 sustenance of tlie human family. The Greeks, 

 the Romans, the Parthians, tlie American 

 Indians, the East Indians, the Hindoos, the 

 Egyptians, the Mahrattans, the Brazilians, 

 the'Swedcs, the Hottentots, the New Caledon- 

 ians, the French, the Ceylonese, theilarguer- 

 itans, and even others of the most polished 

 among the European nations, have at various 

 times been more or less given to the use of 

 insect food, and these instances have been co- 

 piously set forth by such authorities as Aris- 

 totle, Pliny, Piso, Homer, Aristophanes, /El- 

 ian, Raumer, Scopoli, Lattreille, Humboldt, 

 Rose], and many others, anl to lead the de- 

 scriptions of the relish with which many indi- 

 viduals, both male and female, refined as well 

 as vulgar, partook of them, is almost sutlieient 

 to excite an apjietite in those who have 

 '•never been there." 



to the amounts of such fertilizing materials 

 removed from the soil (as per tal)le by Prof. 

 Atwater in American AgricuHnrist) it costs in 

 these materials to produce one bushel of wheat, 

 :i3{c. ; one bushel rye, '2Tic. ; one bushel oats, 

 llic. ; one bushel corn, ^.i^c. ; one bushel buck- 

 wheat, 18c.; one bushel jiotatoes, 7_tc.; one 

 ton meadow hay, $8.75; i)\u: ton timothy hay, 

 .•51-2.l:i; red clover hay would seem to remove 

 •Sl'i.Sl, but as the clover ajipropriates the 

 greater |)art of the nitrogen from ihe air, the 

 materials removed are probably not worth over 

 fti.oO per ton of hay; wheat stniw per ton, 

 82.70; rye straw per ton, 82. .')7; oats straw 

 per ton, $3.37; corn fodder per ton, $4.43; 

 taliaceo iier 101) lbs., 81.20. 



Now if by applying a certain amount of fer- 

 tilizers, a certain increase is the result, and 

 that increase costs less for fertilizers and extra 

 laV)or involved than the market value of the 

 increase, it is surely to the interest of the far- 

 mer to use them. The i)reparation of the land 

 is the same, the tilhige liardly ever more, 

 sometimes less, on account of the luxuriant 

 growth of crop that smothers any late weeds 

 that may start, and the only increase in cx- 

 pen.sc may be that the harvesting will cost 

 more, on account of the larger crop ; but har- 

 vesting usually is but a small part of the ex- 

 pense. 



Unfortunately, the result from the appli- 

 cation of fertilizers (stable manure being no 

 exception) will not always be satisfactory, for 

 if the sea.son is very dry there will be little ap- 

 liarent benelit, and even in some cases, where 

 they were not applied in a jiroper manner, 

 may be a positive injury. But as in most 

 cases the cost of the increase is only from one- 

 half to one-sixth of the market value of such 

 crops, we believe it wcudd pay to use the fer- 

 tilizi rs more, iiroviding it was made a regular 

 practice ; for if used only semi-occasionally, 

 the result would iirobably be about as .satis- 

 factory as if stable manure was applied in the 

 same manner. 



The crops wliicli would seem to pay best by 

 an ai)|)lication of fertilizers in the order from 

 the best paying to those that pay less for the 

 expense involved are tobacco, potatoes, wheat, 

 rye, oats and corn. In these the ratio between 

 the value of the materials removed and the 

 market value of the crop is the greatest. 



Timothy is probably the crop that is least 

 able to sland an application, for one ton of hay 

 removes 44i lbs. ammonia (30.0 lbs. nitrogen), 

 14;,^ lbs. phosphoric aciii and 41 lbs. jxitasli. 

 costing over 812 at the warehouse, to which, 

 if freight, expense of applying, interest and 

 taxes on land, and labor of making hay be 

 added, it would ruu Uf* the cost of the hay to 

 about S21 per ton. 



From the circular mentioned we glean that 

 in beets, carrots, tobacco, timothy, and all the 

 srains except buckwheat, ammonia is most 

 required, phosphoric acid next, and potash 

 last. 



In turnips, ruta bagas, sorghum, sugar cane, 

 cotton and buckwheat, phosphoric acid is most 

 required, pot.ash next, ammonia last. 



In Irish potatoes, clover, peas, beans and 

 lucern, potash and phosphoric acid are most 

 required, ammonia last. — A. B. K. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 JOTTINGSSUGGESTED BY ACIRCULAR 



One of the prominent dealers in fertilizers 

 has put out a circular which it might be well 

 to study. As he is generally recognized as a 

 fair dealer, and the figures that are iriven of 

 the composition of crops and fertilizers are 

 ttiken in nearly all cases from standard works 

 on chemistry, the calctdations that may be 

 reduced will be in the main reliable. 



In making the prices of chemical manures, 

 he gives the following rates for the fertilizing 

 materials contained in the same : 



Ammonia, 17ic. per lb.; (nitrocren, 2H;) 

 phosphoric acid, 9c. per lb ; potash, 7^c. per lb. 



If we now take these figures and apply them 



VERY CURIOUS EXPERIMENTS. 



The Sick and the Afflicted Cured— A Great 



Blessing Conferred upon the Human 



Family without Cost. 



Some months ago, a number of the i»ipers 

 in the country criticised, generally with some 

 degree of facetiousncss, a book written by 

 Gen. A. J. Pleasontou of Philadelphia, en- 

 titled "Blue and Sun Li^zbt; their inlhience 

 npon Life, Disease, etc." Some of the ideas 

 set forth by Gen. Pleasonton are calculated to 

 -startle reading and thoushtfid persons, and 

 failing to comprehend his theories, it is no 

 wonder that the critics poked considerable fun 

 at them. My attention was recently directed 

 to the "blue glass" treatment by an old friend 

 who recommended its use in case of sickness 

 in my family. Having confidence in ray friend 

 I wrote to Gen. Pleasouton regarding it, and 



in reply received a copy of his liook, and in- 

 strudions regarding the application of the 

 blue light in the case I recited to him. Hav- 

 ing practical evidence before me of the bene- 

 fits to be derived from the application of the 

 "blue light," I propose in thi.s letter to give 

 some general Idea of Gen. Pleasonton 's the- 

 ory regarding the 



Blue and Sun Lights. 

 To promise, then. Gen. Pleasonton, the au- 

 thor of the book in question, was not the fa- 

 mous ciivalry leader during the war, as has 

 b^en quite generally supposed, but hit< elder 

 brother. The cavalry leader is (im. Alfred 

 Pleasonton, while the discoverer of the blue 

 lii;ht theory is Gen. Augustus J. Pleasonton. 

 He is agraduiite of West Point, was in tlie 

 reguliir army for .some time, from which he 

 resigned; during the war he was a Brigadier 

 General of Pennsylvania militia, and was se- 

 lected to organiz(f a body of 10,(J00 men with- 

 in the Stat(! for use in emergencies. He is a 

 lawyep>f iirominence in Philadelphia, a gen- 

 tletnan of culture, wealth and refinement. 

 Owning a farm outside of the city, he in 1800 

 commenced to ex|)evinient upon his theory re- 

 garding the different colors in the sun's rays, 

 and their ellects upon vegetable and animal 

 life. Experiments made in Eiu-ope had al- 

 ready demonstrated that the blue rays of the 

 sun's light had greater chemical powers than 

 any of the others, developed a greater 

 amount of heat, and were espt^cially stimulat- 

 ing to vegetation. But these ex])criments 

 had been barren of practical results, and Gen. 

 Pleasonton was left to his own resources to 

 carry out his own ideas. He built a large 

 grapery, covered with gla.ss. every eighth row 

 of which was blue. By this arrangement, the 

 sun ill making its rouiids, 



Cast a Blue Ray of Light 

 upon every plant and leaf within the jrrapery. 

 In April, 1801, he set out twenty varieties of 

 grape-vines in his grapery, all of the cuttings 

 being one year old, the size of a pipe stem, 

 and cut close to the ground. The vines soon 

 began to show a most vigorous growth, and 

 in a few weeks the urai'cry was filled with 

 vines and foliase. By September— or tivc 

 months after setting -the secdman who had 

 furnished the cuttings made measurements, 

 and found that the vines had grown forty-five 

 feet in length, and were an inch in diameter 

 a foot aliove the ground. These vines at- 

 tracted great attention in the neighborhood, 

 but it was predicted that, owing to this un- 

 usual growth, they would not bear fruit. Next 

 year, liowever, the vines displayed the same 

 vigor )us growth, and in addii ion bore over 

 1,2(K) ])ounds of luscious gnipes of unusual size. 

 This was more astonishing to horticultur- 

 ists than the grow'th of the vines, but from that 

 day to this, the vines have kept up the same 

 vigorous growth, beini: entirely free from dis- 

 ea.se and destructive in.'^ecls, and b.'aring with 

 I>roportioiiate iirolificness. How remarkable 

 this result is will be appreciated when it is 

 known that in gra|ie-growing countries the 

 vines do not bear fruit until the fifth or sixth 

 year. Having been so successful in his first 

 experiment with vesretable life. Gen. Pleason- 

 ton next tried the effect of 



Blue Light upon Animals. 

 His first experiment was with a litter of 

 pigs, which he placed in a pen which was 

 placed in a pen which was lighted by blue and 

 plain glass inserted in the roof in equal pro- 

 portions. This litter gained wonderfully in 

 weight, size and strength, and, at the end of 

 a few months, were found to weiLrh very much 

 mora than a similar litter raised in the usual 

 way. He next experimented witli an Alder- 

 nev bull-calf, which was so puny and weak at 

 its" birth that the manager of tlie farm said it 

 could not live. It was put under blue glass, 

 and in twenty-four hours it was able to stand 

 ui>, and was taught to drink milk; in four 

 months it was a perfectly-devc-loped bull, 

 strong and vigorous, and was turned in with 

 the lurd of cows, and has since fulfilled every 

 exiiectation regarding him. Subsequently 

 other experiments gave him confidence, and 



